_C. albida, quatuor fasciis interruptis nigro-fuscis; pinnis dorsali,
caudali, et ventralibus, clarè cæruleo-marginatis: dentibus anticis
conicis, in maxillâ superiore octo, in inferiore decem minoribus;
molaribus suprà seriebus tribus, intermediâ minori, infrà duâbus
dispositis; preoperculo et operculo, utroque quatuor squamarum
seriebus tecto; limbo preoperculi nudo._
D. 12/12; A. 3/10; C. 17, &c.; P. 15; V. 1/5.
LONG. unc. 14.
[Illustration:
_Fish. Pl. 12._
_W. Hawkins del._
_Chrysophrys taurina. ¾ Nat. Size._
]
FORM.—General form not very dissimilar to that of the _C. Aurata_.
Greatest depth contained about three times and a half in the entire
length. Depth and length of the head equal, each about one-fourth of
the entire length. Profile very oblique. Eyes high, and moderately
large, distant two diameters from the end of the snout. Preopercle
with the angle at bottom very much in advance, giving an obliquity
to the ascending margin; the limb not very broad, and naked; in
front of the limb are about four rows of scales smaller than those
on the body: the same number of rows of scales on the opercle. Jaws
equal, with eight conical incisors in front of the upper one, and
ten in front of the lower;[23] those above longer than those below,
and more regularly and closely set: behind the incisors above and
below is a patch of fine card: then follow the molars, which are in
three very regular rows above and two below; of the three rows above
the inner and outer ones are much the strongest, containing each
about eight teeth; those in the outer row are slightly pointed, and
not very unequal in size, but the inner series enlarge very rapidly
as they extend backwards, the last two or three being of
considerable size; all round or nearly so, there being no large oval
one at the back, as in the _C. Aurata_ and some other species; the
middle series above consists of teeth much smaller than the others,
and more numerous: the two rows below are not very dissimilar to the
inner and outer rows above. Suborbital broad, and naked, covering a
large portion of the cheek.
Scales on the body of a moderate size; too much injured and displaced
in this specimen to admit of the exact number being counted in a
longitudinal row; those on the lateral line, however, are all
perfect and present to within five rays of the end of the dorsal,
and up to that point they amount to thirty-one. The fins, so far as
can be judged from their present state, are on the whole very
similar to those of the other species; but the dorsal and anal
spines, especially the second anal spine, appear rather stronger
than those of the _C. Aurata_. Pectorals long and narrow, contained
about three times and three quarters in the entire length.
COLOUR.—“White, with four dark brown much interrupted bands, giving a
mottled appearance; head coloured with the same; top of the head,
ridge of the back, edges of the dorsal, caudal and ventral fins,
tinted with fine azure blue.”—D.
Habitat, Chatham Island, Galapagos Archipelago.
Mr. Darwin’s collection contains a single specimen of a species of
_Chrysophrys_ from the Galapagos Archipelago, not in a sufficiently good
state of preservation to admit of a very detailed description being
given of it, but, nevertheless, evidently distinct from any that I can
find recorded by authors. It appears to belong to Cuvier’s second
section of this genus characterized by the absence of any large _oval_
molar behind the others, though the last two or three in the inner
series above are of considerable size. It differs, however, from all
those described in the “Histoire des Poissons,” in having the conical
incisors more numerous, and but three rows of molars in the upper jaw.
The specimen also is of sufficient size to lead to the belief, that it
would not have acquired any additional ones by further growth. The _C.
aculeata_ resembles it, indeed, in this last character, but
independently of other differences, this species is said to have a
reclined spine before the dorsal fin which is not present in the one
here described.
Out of twenty-two species of this genus described in the “Histoire des
Poissons,” only one is from the Pacific Ocean, whence the present
species was brought. The greater number are from the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans.